Remapping Europe videos from Turkey were screened on the 5th of June and a selection of Remapping Europe videos from Spain, Poland and Turkey were screened on the 6th of June as well as an international selection of Doc Next Shorts on the same day in the evening at SALT Beyoglu’s Open Theater. Continue reading →

Two young DIY media-makers from Turkey, Akile Nazli Kaya (31) and Selin Gunduz (21), are ready to participate IDFA 2011 next week as part of the Doc Next filmmakers group that will take part in the IDFAcademy and all related events. Nazli’s film “Ebb and Tide” is among the ten short Doc Next documentaries that will be screened at IDFA 2011 prior to the feature length films. Two other films from Turkey, “Ece’esque” (dir. Ozge Yesilcimen, Bora Balbey, Bade Selcuk, Caner Kececi) and “Dear Brother Sakir” (dir. Bahar Demirkan, Okyar Igli, Hayati Kose and Morteza Moghaddam), which were made during Youth MODE Workshops, will be screened at IDFA’s Doc Next Mini Cinema section featuring continual screenings of a selection from the Doc Next Media Collection.

Nazli is an awarded animator/director/designer working and studying in Prague. Nazli’s productions focus on important themes such as immigration, food security and personal freedom. Her biggest ambition in life is to make creative, innovative and inspiring short animated films and documentaries that address social and environmental issues. Her dream is to open an animation studio in Prague and Istanbul that will create socially and environmentally concerned ‘green’ films.” Her film in IDFA 2011 program “Ebb and Tide” is about a young woman reading from her diaries about her life in the Czech Republic while showing the life of her parents, who also temporarily immigrated to another country. As an interpretation of home videos made on S8, the film’s emotionally charged story challenges the existing imagery of Turkish people living in Europe. Nazli’s awarded animation documenaries “Zlin Soup” and “Nazli in Zlin” are also in the Doc Next Media Collection. She is currently working on a new ‘green’ film “The Seed”.

Selin is an aspiring DIY filmmaker with tremendous self-motivation. She did not attend university nor did she receive formal media education, but she pushes herself to learn more about filmmaking, screenwriting, photography and acting by attending certificate programs, workshops and seminars. Selin participated the Youth MODE Documentary Workshop in Canakkale last year and made the film “Sounds and Shadows“, also included in the Doc Next Media Collection,
with fellow workshop participants Erkan Atay, Ahmet Turan and Alper Dutkin. “To me, filmmaking is not a temporary interest. It has captured me completely. I want to build my life on it, I am saving money by working other jobs in order to make films and also to attend screenings and other film related events,” says Selin, who now works on the script for her new short film and is preparing a documentary on internet censorship in Turkey.

We wish both ladies the best of time at IDFAcademy and we are also very excited to be joining them in Amsterdam next week!

Click here to read more about the IDFAcademy participants and program.

Some exciting news has been brought to our attention from mentor on the Video Art Bursary scheme here at the BFI, Phillip Warnell. Jacob Dwyer, who is a BFI Video Art Bursary Winner, was successful in being offered a place to study the brand new MA Experimental Film course at KingstonUniversity, London, which starts in October 2011. Jacob, who graduated Newcastle University this summer with an outstanding 1st Class Honours degree in Fine Art, was then nominated by Phillip, who is also the director of studies on the course at KingstonUniversity, for an AHRX bursary to help him pursue this MA programme. Wonderfully he was successful in obtaining it. This bursary will cover his fees and maintenance costs for the duration of the one-year course.

Phillip added that he was “delighted that Jacob has been offered the opportunity, both in joining the MA Experimental Film programme atKingston, and in gaining such an award. His film work undoubtedly merits his success”.

Discover and explore the role of the film producer at this month’s Future Film event. Find out if you’ve got the skills required to get a film made. Our workshops and screenings will give you tips and techniques to help you secure funding, manage a production, and get your film seen by the right people. We’ve teamed up with BAFTA to bring in producers from the film and TV industry who’ll share their knowledge and expertise with you. Don’t miss this chance to learn from the best.

Tickets are just £3, or bring a mate and you both get in for a fiver! Please call the Box Office on 020 7928 3232 (11:30-20:30 daily) to book. And download a networking info form here to make the most of this unique opportunity.